To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism allows the import of sufficient building materials.
Answered on
11 September 2015
We are supporting the temporary Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) to facilitate the import of construction materials into Gaza. The Department for International Development is providing £0.7 million to the Materials Monitoring Unit which oversees and monitors the import, storage, supply and use of construction materials into Gaza under the GRM. Over 94,000 people have now been able to buy materials to repair homes that were damaged during the conflict. We welcome the June 2015 agreement between the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities on the new residential stream of the GRM, to allow imports of building materials into Gaza for the reconstruction of homes that were completely destroyed. The UK is also calling on all donors to disburse pledges made at the October 2014 Cairo Gaza Reconstruction Conference without delay so that the pace of reconstruction can increase.